GIBSONVILLE – Myra Burkhead’s Gibsonville Antiques & Collectibles has been open for two years, and to celebrate, she let locals discover the value of some of their most prized possessions Saturday.

“This is a very special occasion for us,” Burkhead said. Saturday was the first time the shop, at 106 E. Railroad Avenue, had ever hosted an antiques appraisal fair and four hours into the event, people were still hauling in their family treasures for a $5 appraisal fee.

“They were standing at the door,” at 10 a.m., Burkhead said. “It’s been a steady stream,” said Jim Burkhead, Myra’s husband. “It’s been a 45 minute to an hour wait,” he said.

Jim Burkhead was in charge of inspecting each item before it went onto the desk of Rod Jones, certified appraiser, and his brother and assistant, Greg Jones.

Marie Schmitz traveled from Stokesdale to have a few items appraised, including a wooden music box she’d purchased at an auction in Vermont. The box, crafted out of what Rod Jones figured was walnut, had a decorative inlay and was appraised at about $900 to $1,100.

Schmitz knew her music box was worth something when she brought it in, because she explained today’s good music boxes have 18 notes, created when the rotating cylinder’s pins pluck tuned teeth.

“This has 76,” Schmitz said, pointing to her music box.

Through the grapevine, Jim Burkhead had learned the values of some of the items that had passed through his hands, including an antique pistol appraised at $800, and an embroidery sample valued at $1,000.

But the piece that stuck out most to Myra’s daughter, Amy Riley, was an Anheuser-Busch brooch that any beer snob could appreciate.

Riley said the company’s signature “A” was encrusted with diamonds and rubies, Rod Jones added it included both gold and silver, and Greg Jones said its age dated back to “just about the turn of the century.”

The piece’s owner said his grandparents were involved with the Anheuser-Busch company and, “It was given out as some kind of a gift, (like) at company picnics,” said Rod Jones.

The other item that was particularly remarkable to the Jones brothers was a prison ship diary, written by a minister who’d been hired to stay on board the ship and preach to the prisoners. Though he didn’t know the name of the ship, Rod Jones said, “They came into Norfolk Island.”

“The writing was just immaculate,” Rod Jones said. “Its historical value is really significant,” he said, and Greg Jones said they’d encouraged the diary’s owner to have it appraised at a museum to learn its real worth.

Everyone who had an item appraised at Gibsonville Antiques & Collectibles was entered to win a door prize Myra Burkhead had created, after having gathered smaller antique items from around the 18,000-square-foot store into a basket. Customers could also pay $1 a raffle ticket to win a $100 gift certificate to the antique store.